Relationships

Published on September 20, 2017 under Reggio

Children’s relationships and interactions within
a system.

Education has to focus on each child, not considered in isolation, but seen in relation with the family, with other children, with the teachers, with the environment of the school, with the community, and with the wider society. Each school is viewed as a system in which all these relationships, which are all interconnected and reciprocal, are activated and supported.

Lella Gandini

Basically what this says is that you can’t look at a child and see a solitary 4 year old and look at a developmental chart and know exactly what that child needs from you or who he is. Every child comes with their own little unique style ( of learning ) that is influenced by everything in their world. They are influenced by their parents and the way they were raised. They are influenced by extended family . They are influenced by culture and the community they live in. They are influenced by their teachers and the school where they spend their day.

A 4 year old raised in the country on a farm comes with different capabilities than I child raised in the city .

A 3 year that has many members of extended family around all the time may develop at a different speed than a 3 year old with no siblings .

A 4 year old that spend his early years in a institutional style large setting will have a different view of ” school ” than a child that spend his early years in a home.

Stages of child development are researched and proven but that doesn’t mean that every child will hit them at the exact same time .

We must look at each child as an individual and consider their relationships .

And… we had our first cooking experience today. We made dinosaur eggs !